'Compromised' GOP can’t make Big Government argument against Biden: conservative analyst

Republicans should be on offense against Joe Biden ahead of next year’s presidential election over expanded government spending and the role of government, but a “compromised” GOP is in no position to credibly make such arguments, a conservative political commentator said Tuesday.

Steven Hayes, the editor and CEO of The Dispatch, during an appearance on NBC News Now’s “Meet the Press NOW” said Republicans are not in a particularly strong position to make policy arguments.

Hayes’ appearance on the show followed Biden’s announcement earlier in the day that his administration would negotiate Medicare prices for 10 drugs.

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The Associated Press reports that “the effort is a centerpiece of Biden’s reelection pitch as the Democrat tries to show Americans he’s deserving of a second term because of the work he’s doing to lower costs while the country is struggling with inflation. The drug negotiations, like many of Biden’s biggest policy moves, will take time to play out, and his challenge is to persuade the public to be patient.”

“Is that enough, Steven?” guest host Ryan Nobles asked Hayes. “Can Democrats just talk about policy and ignore the fact that there's real concerns about the President's age?”

“Well, (Democrats) might be able to talk about policy in part because Republicans have a hard time pushing back against this,” Hayes said.

“In a more traditional Republican moment you'd have Republicans on Capitol Hill and elsewhere say, ‘look, this is government overreach. This is too much. We worry about big spending. This isn’t the proper role of government telling companies what to do.’"

But Hayes stressed that the current moment for Republicans is anything but traditional.

“Republicans aren't in a position to make those arguments because look at the way the Republicans have spent over the past eight years. They can't very much pull the ‘small government card’ now, so I think they're a little bit compromised in their ability to attack that on policy grounds.”

“We don't often see them even trying to engage on policy issues,” Nobles said to Axios senior political reporter Eugene Scott.

“Not really,” Scott replied.

“I mean, when you and I run into each other in the hallways of Capitol Hill, it's usually tied to some drama, and I think that is something many Americans know right now."

Scott continued:

“And so when you have something like this, it reminds people that there are issues that need to be addressed during the campaign that aren't related to whether someone supports Trump or not, or is trying to be vindictive when it comes to impeachment.”